Twisted Metal (2012)
Twisted Metal (sometimes referred to as "Twisted Metal PS3") is a vehicular combat video game developed by Eat Sleep Play and published by Sony Computer Entertainment exclusively for the PlayStation 3 game console. It is the eighth installment in the series. The game was released on February 14th, 2012 (Valentine's Day) in North America and March 16th, 2012 in Europe. It was originally set for release on October 4th, 2011, but was pushed back in order to fine tune and polish the game. The game is rated M for Mature by the ESRB due to the graphic nature of the cut scenes and harsh language. David Jaffe, the head designer of this game, targeted the T rating for the game, but decided to embrace the M rating. Story Players compete in Calypso's tournament in order to earn their prize. There are only three playable characters in the campaign - Sweet Tooth, Mr. Grimm, and Krista Sparks/Dollface - but each can use any vehicle. It was once stated that each character would have 3 different endings depending on the difficulty, but it has been revealed that it will not be included in the final version. Gameplay Story Mode - Each character will have their own different storylines. For the instance, Sweet Tooth has a Deathmatch in level 1, Mr. Grimm has a Juggernaut Deathmatch in level 1, and Dollface has an Endurance challenge in level 1. Everyone will have different things to do in their story, unlike the other games in which everyone has to go in the same order doing the same thing. Each character will have a beginning, a middle, and an end movie. Each level will have 3 collectable medals (not to be confused with trophies); bronze, silver, and gold. Challenge Mode - This mode is a single battle, as opposed to a set progression of levels. You choose your Battleground/Level Variant, with options such as AI Bot number, and activation of Health Semi, Pedestrians, and/or Traffic within the level. Match can be set to Endurance vs 1 car at a time or a Royal Rumble style (Max Cars Endurance). Then you, and/or your opponent choose your Vehicle, Faction, and Machine Gun variant. After selecting your vehicle setup, loading screen appears, with the Level name & variant listed underneath. AI Bots are chosen randomly. They do not use Talon or Juggernaut. The game focuses heavily on multiplayer combat, including various multiplayer modes with up to 4 player split-screen, and 16-players online. There are four factions in the game: The Clowns, The Skulls, The Dolls, and The Holy Men, which have been inspired by Needles Kane, Mr. Grimm, Dollface, and Preacher respectively. When playing in Challenge Mode, the factions are arranged as follows: When playing as the Clowns, you fight the Dolls. When playing as the Dolls, you fight the Skulls. When playing as the Skulls, you fight the Holy Men, and when playing as the Holy Men, you fight the Clowns. Online Multiplayer Game Modes: *Deathmatch - Players must fight each other in the level and score points with enemy kills. *Team Deathmatch - Players must destroy as many players on the opposing team as possible before time runs out. *Endurance - Players must destroy the enemies which respawn upon the death of one until he/she is dead. There are two variants: One vs. One and Max Cars. This mode is only available in Single Player mode. *Race - Players must get to checkpoints. This mode is only available in Story Mode. *Hunted - One player is the "Hunted" which means that he/she will be targeted by everyone. If a player kills the "Hunted", he/she gets a point but will become the "Hunted". Killing another player while being the "Hunted" is also awarded a point. *Team Hunted - One player on each team is the "Hunted" which means that he/she will be targeted by everyone on the opposing team. *Last Man Standing - Each player has a specific number of lives and the player will not respawn if he/she runs out of lives and is killed. *Team Last Man Standing - Each team has a specific number of lives. The team lives are shared to everyone in the team. If a team runs out of lives, a player of that team will not respawn if he/she is killed. *Nuke Mode - A new online or LAN game mode where you choose a faction to play against an opposing faction. In this mode, each faction has a giant metal statue, which the opposing team must try to destroy. In order to destroy these statues, the player or team member must abduct the opposing team's leader, then sacrifice the leader to a missile launcher that will, in turn, launch a nuclear missile. The player who sacrifices the leader and launches the missile has control of the missile. To score a point, the missile has to hit the opposing team's statue. Weapons *Fire Missile - Slight homing ability and the most common weapon (Homing ability has been decreased in multiplayer) - 16 pts damage *Homing Missile - Strong homing ability - 12 pts damage *Stalker Missile - Homing + Power combo missile; able to be charged for more homing capabilities, similar to how you charge the Swarmer missiles to launch more missiles - 45 pts damage (Switching to another weapon while charging a Stalker Missile cancels the charging process and saves the currently charging missile for later use) *Power Missile - No homing ability, but very powerful - 75 pts damage *Swarmer Missile - Multi-rocket missiles that can be charged for more rockets - 4 pts dmg per rocket, 70 pts dmg if fully charged (Switching to another weapon while charging cancels the charging process and discards the currently charging Swarmer) *Napalm - Fire once to launch, fire again to drop; land a direct hit to inflict extra damage and ignite an enemy on fire - 55 pts Bullseye, 20 pts Medium, 10 pts Far *Remote Bomb **Able to be dropped or launched onto an enemy or the environment **Bonus damage the longer you allow to sit (Stuck on a vehicle: Stage 1 - 35 pts, Stage 2 - 50 pts Cooked Bomb; Placed on the environment: Stage 1 - 20 pts Far, Stage 1 - 35 pts Close, Stage 2 - 75 pts Cooked Bomb) *Shotgun **Far - 5 pts, Medium - 20 pts, Close - 40 pts **Able to do "Point-Blank" damage if shot into the windshield of an enemy - 60 pts Point-Blank *Sniper Reticle Missile - A targeted shot with 4 phases. Advanced phases require longer target locks. **Phase 1 - Body Shot (16 pts), Phase 2 - Blowout (36 pts), Phase 3 - Gas Tank (60 pts), and Phase 4 - Head Shot (Instant Kill, with 6.5 seconds non-moving lock required, and 15 seconds lock while moving required) *Ricochet R/C Car **Able to be charged up, launched, and detonated (Charged: 8-12 pts dmg Far, 20 pts dmg Close) **Bonus damage inflicted after one ricochet off wall, damage returns to 40 pts after subsequent bounces. (80 pts Bounce Bonus) **The only chargeable weapon that can be fired from behind *Mega Guns - Increased damage and fire rate to mounted guns. One pickup loads 150 shots. Killstreaks grant special Red Mega Guns that fire much faster. Sidearms These weapons are similar to the machine guns from the previous Twisted Metal games. They never run out of ammo, and are fired by using L2 (default). In the new installment of Twisted Metal, each sidearm can be chosen from a short list of other side arms which have pros and cons to them. *Mounted Guns - 1 pt dmg per shot; infinite ammo. It has good range and acceptable accuracy, but pitiful damage output and a disappointing rate of fire. It is the default sidearm and is available from the beginning of the game. That said, however, if accuracy is not something that is available in abundance, then the Mounted Guns will still be the best bet for their infinite ammo. *Submachine Gun - 6 pts dmg full burst; shortest reload time. It is unlocked by beating event #1 in Sweet Tooth's campaign. *Magnum Revolver - 11 pts dmg per shot; six shots per load. It has good damage and range, but a slow bullet velocity and a long reload time. It is unlocked by beating event #4 in Sweet Tooth's campaign. *Sawn-off Shotgun - 10 pts dmg per shot; two shots per load. It is far more effective at close range, where a good two-shot burst can easily inflict 20 damage. However, it has extreme problems with spread shot: once a player is over 20 feet from his opponent, he shouldn't expect to hit much - one might deal 2 or 4 damage at that distance. It has a reasonably quick reload time. It is unlocked by beating event #4 in Mr. Grimm's campaign. *Swarmer Rockets - 15 pts dmg full burst; longest reload time. It does more damage faster than the other sidearms, but is also the most difficult to use. Unlike its picked-up cousin, these rockets have horrendous accuracy and are only really effective at close range. It is unlocked by beating event #3 in Dollface's campaign. *Laser Pistol - 1 pt dmg if fired without charging; 25 pts dmg if fully charged (unlocked by completing Story Mode on the Twisted difficulty) *Grenades - Was a sidearm that was going to be featured in the game itself, but was cut at the last minute. Can still be seen in Darkside and in Juggernaut on the main menu. *9mm Pistol - Featured in the BradyGames Guide, this was presumably a sidearm that was cut. Had it made it into the game, it would have dealt 1 damage point per shot and been available from the beginning. From this, one can infer that it was cut in favour of the mounted guns. Drivers Twisted Metal (2012) ''has only 4 drivers in the entire game, and they have all appeared in previous ''Twisted Metal ''games. Returning Contestants Vehicle(s) Driver(s) Wish Reaper, The Brothers Grimm (Hammerhead and Slayer), various Daniel Grimm (The Skulls) To go back in time to stop his Dad from dying. Darkside, Juggernaut, Iron Maiden, Talon, Crimson Fury, various Dollface/Krista Sparks (The Dolls) Remove her mask and become a supermodel; later changes to being on the world's largest runway. Outlaw, Junkyard Dog, Shadow, Warthog, Axel, Death Warrant, Kamikaze, Road Boat, Meat Wagon, Vermin, various Preacher (The Holy Men) To end the Twisted Metal contest. Sweet Tooth, Roadkill, Sweet Tooth's Carnival of Carnage, various Needles Kane/Sweet Tooth (The Clowns) To find "the one who got away." Vehicles Boss/Unplayable Vehicles *Health Semi *Limo *Nuclear Missile Launch Truck *The Brothers Grimm **Hammerhead **Slayer *Iron Maiden *Sweet Tooth's Carnival of Carnage Promotions Several promotions were available at launch. They include: *Pre-ordered copies have a code for early access to Axel as a vehicle. *The Limited Edition of Twisted Metal has a free download code for ''Twisted Metal: Black over PSN. *New copies include a code for an Online Pass, which is required for mulitplayer. *Sweet Tooth Outcast Multiplayer skin for Starhawk. *You can obtain 5 different unlockable skins by typing in codes found on NOS energy drinks. *Pre-ordered copies at Gamestop has a code that will grant you $10 off $40 or higher orders from 1800Flowers.com. Car Abilities Like previous Twisted Metal games, the d-pad has served as a means to perform energy attacks. Since they began in Twisted Metal 2, they have grown in number but generally included freeze missile, shield, mine, and rear fire. In the newest installment the d-pad can no longer be used to steer your vehicle (under default controls) and it is used instead to fire a few quick advanced attacks. The D-pad attacks that require you to hold Triangle button must be unlocked in story mode. The default attacks are as followed: *EMP (1 dmg + freeze, high energy cost) - Up **Reverse EMP (1 dmg + rear fired freeze, high energy cost) - + Up (unlocked by completing Sweet Tooth's third event) *Shield (temporary invulnerability, moderate energy cost) - Right **Absorption Shield (absorb both enemy AND friendly fire, if timed correctly, and gain it for ammo; also fires a fully charged stalker missile back at the attacker; the effect lasts shorter then the primary shield, absorbing mines or EMPs restores AA meter, ultra high energy cost) - + Right (unlocked by completing Mr. Grimm's third event) *Mine (10 dmg, low energy cost) - Left **Mega Mine (30 dmg, moderate energy cost) - + Left (unlocked by completing Mr. Grimm's fifth event) *Rear Fire (activates a weapon's rear fire capability if avaliable, no energy cost) - Down **NOTE: Most chargable weapons do not have rear fire capability (except Ricochet) *Jump (Jump height differs from vehicle to vehicle, no energy cost) **NOTE: Axel can "jump" the highest out of all the vehicles in the game. *SIXAXIS "Turbo Slam" - If you're using a SIXAXIS enabled PlayStation 3 controller, you can flick the controller down for a short boost of speed and inflict extra ram damage. Consumes turbo to activate. *Ram - Based on "vehicle classification", which is relative to (light) - (light+medium) - (medium) - (heavy+medium) - (heavy). For instance, if a "light" car tries to ram a heavy car, then the damage will not be as great as if the opposite were to occur. Each class has a "ram damage multiplier" that kicks in when certain class conditions are met. *Innate abilities also concern how fast vehicle energy recharges, how quickly the car can feed an enemy Faction Leader into the grinding missile launcher (during Nuke mode), and how much their turbo is depleted during use. Of course, each car also has differences based on their health capacity, energy capacity, energy usage, and several other factors as well. Battlegrounds *Blackrock Stadium - An arena (based on Suicide Slide from Twisted Metal 2) with lava pits, a center floor level that changes configuration, and an overhead track. *Diablo Pass - A level that is held along the winding roads of the Mojave Desert outside of Las Vegas. Mostly consists of canyon terrain. *Diesel City - A city with rolling hills, grey sky, slums, and junkyards. This level was seen in the Nuke Mode demo. *Metro Square - A metropolitan city square based on New York City. Contains Times Square and the Museum of Natural History in a Christmas-themed town square. *Los Angeles Skyline - Combines Twisted Metal rooftop levels from Twisted Metal (1995), Twisted Metal 2 and Twisted Metal: Black. *Sunsprings, California - A suburban town containing a school, a movie theater, and a downtown area. Satellite dishes can be shot to open another path. The water tower by the mansion can be destroyed as well. *Thrills n' Spills Adventure Park - One of David Jaffe's favorite level designs, this arena is filled with interactive environments and plenty of game play choices. *Watkyn's Harbor - A grimy oil field east of Los Angeles. Based on the Harbor City concept. There are more than 30 maps, all of which take place on these 8 battlegrounds. Multiplayer Split Screen: Two players may play the campaign mode co-operatively. The game can support up to four players in deathmatch. Online Multiplayer: Like Twisted Metal: Black and Twisted Metal: Head On (PSP), this installment has online play available. Complete with a reward and ranking system (which is included if connected to the Server during playing the story mode), and a easy-to-start interface, this installment easily holds the best Online Multiplayer feature to date. A companion may join via split screen, allowing you to both play online. A recent software upadate was released to improve the initial online errors. The update targeted online playing and connectivity issues. The fix allows most people to join a game easier, and less people get disconnected from a match. LAN Multiplayer: Twisted Metal (2012) also includes an extensive LAN feature, which allows players to connect up to 16 PlayStation 3 consoles over a local area network. Four players may connect to a single unit, although the maximum amount of players allowed is still 16 (for example, 4 PS3 units may support 16 players). An Internet connection is not necessary to set up a LAN game, although other hardware will be required (ethernet cables, a switch, and a router), and the games and PlayStation 3 consoles will need to have the same versions and updates, respectively. Trivia *This was originally going to be a PSN (PlayStation Network) downloadable game, but eventually became a full length retail game as it is now. *This game started out as Twisted Metal: Apocalypse. The game eventually left this stage after one of the developers said that he wasn't "down with the apocalypse vibe". *This is the second Twisted Metal game to be given an M rating from ESRB, the other being Twisted Metal: Black. *Models for more vehicles, such as Twister, Spectre, Mr. Slam, Crazy 8, Yellow Jacket and Pit Viper have been created, but not implemented due to the developers' choice to forgo DLC for this game. These vehicles are not playable and cannot be accessed by any means. *In the vein of the European version of Twisted Metal: Black, cuts were made to the game mainly involving the cutscenes, though thankfully they are a lot less excessive. Notably, the cutscenes involving Sweet Tooth were the only ones to include censorship, with a total of 124 seconds of footage being removed. Gameplay-wise, the only censorship involved was to the special weapons of Meat Wagon and Shadow, with the living hostages being replaced with corpses. For a full list of changes, follow this link. **The European box art also omits any vehicles on the cover and instead just shows Sweet Tooth's iconic mask. This is possibly an homage to the cover of Twisted Metal: Black. *This is the second Twisted Metal game to feature Rob Zombie's "Dragula" on the soundtrack. However, the "Si Non Oscilla, Non Tintinnarr Mix" was featured in Twisted Metal 4, and the original version is featured in Twisted Metal (2012). Gallery File:TM2011screen1.jpg File:TM2011screen8.jpg File:TM2011screen10.jpg|Death Warrant File:TM2011screen4.jpg File:TM2011screen9.jpg|Vermin File:TM2011screen6.jpg File:TM2011screen7.jpg|Meat Wagon's Piloted Gurney File:TM2011screen3.jpg|Faction statue from Nuke Mode File:TM2011screen5.jpg File:TM2011screen2.jpg|Reaper File:Tm e3.jpg|Life-size version of Sweet Tooth's ice cream truck at E3 2010 File:500x sweettooth-1-.jpg|Life-size Sweeth Tooth Aeras.jpg|Juggernaut Oat.jpg|Road Boat Credit video References See Also *Twisted Metal (2012) Levels - Levels in this game. Category:Twisted Metal games